Haddenham's 'Man in the Moon'

By Alan Rose - 5th September 2014 7:00am

It is always pleasing to find a connection between Haddenham and somewhere else but this time we go into space!

That's because Dr Mike Leggett informed us at the AGM of the Haddenham Museum Trust that one of the craters on the moon is named 'Dawes' after one of our illustrious former residents. He was Revd. Dr William Rutter Dawes who built Hopefield Lodge, off Station Road, Haddenham.

The crater is modest in size at 18 km in diameter but it is easy to locate. Its position is shown below on the strip between the Sea of Tranquility and the Sea of Serenity. Those two 'seas' are prominent dark patches on any view of the moon so you can easily tell people where Dawes is.

The larger crater to its south-west is Plinius.

Dawes crater is also close to the landing site of the last men to visit the moon (with Apollo 17) and, although they did not drive to the crater, they did photograph it when passing over.

You can enlarge the image shown on this page by clicking on it.

Alan RoseHaddenham Museum Trust

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